Automatic train-stopping mechanism



. ANDERSON;

i'kUTOfi/IATIC TRAIN STOPPING MECHANISM.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 23. I918.

Patented June 17, 1919.

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S. ANDERSON.

AUTOMATlC TRAIN STOPPING MECHANISM.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT-23.1918- 1,306,731 Patented June 17, 1919.

2 SHEETSSHEET 2.

WITNESSES IN H15 Hrromvsv.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

SIGFRED ANDERSON, 0F WIND'BER, PENNSYLVANIA.

AUTOMATIC TRAIN-STOPPING- MECHANISM.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, SIGFRED ANDERSON, a citizen of the United States,residing at Windber, in the county of Somerset and State ofPennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inAutomatic Train-Stopping Mechanism, of which the following is aspecification.

One object of my invention is to provide practical means which, forexample, can be attached to a locomotive and will be operative, uponengagement with a trip on the roadbed adjacent the track, toautomatically stop a locomotive or train of cars.

My invention is operative to prevent accidents such, for example, asoften occur upon failure of the engineer to stop the train at a givendanger signal. The mechanism of my invention will operate to stop atrain independently of the engineer so that if the engineer is sick orunable to stop the train, the mechanism of my invention will do soautomatically.-

Another object is to make my invention of simple and durableconstruction and so that it can be moved into an inoperative positionwhen not desired for use or when it is desired to move the same asufiicient distance above the roadbed to clear any obstructions on thetrack.

These objects, and other advantageous ends which will be describedhereinafter, I attain in the following manner, reference being had tothe accompanying drawings in which Figure 1 is a side elevation of myinvention shown applied to a locomotive, the 10- comotive, track, androadbed being shown in dotted lines,

Fig. 2 is a top plan view of a trip device which forms a part of myinvention,

Fig. 3 is a front elevation of Fig. 2,

Fig. 4 is an end elevation of Fig. 3,

Fig. 5 is an enlarged section through a valve and valve operating meanswhich form a part of my invention,

. Fig. 6 is a side view of Fig. 5, and

Fig. 7 is a perspective view of one of the parts of a portable blockwhich forms a part of my invention.

Referring to the drawings, 7 represents a locomotive to which isattached a train pipe 8 which is usually present on trains for supplyingair for the brakes; it being under- Specification of Letters Patent.Patented J 11113 1'7, 1919. Application filed September 23, 1918. SerialNo. 255,214. v

stood that when the pressure within said pipe is reduced the brakes willbe applied to the wheels in the usual manner.

A branch pipe 9 leads from the train pipe 8 and at its bottom opens intoa valve casing 10, the latter having a valve 11 therein which isnormally closed by a rotatable valve stem 12. The stem 12 has a slot 13cut therethrough which is adapted to register with a valve outletpassage 14 to permit air pressure within the train pipe 8 to escape tothe atmosphere. Fig. 5 shows the valve stem 12 in a closed position soas to prevent the escape of air pressure from the train pipe 8.

The valve stem 12 is journaled within the valve casing 10 and at one endhas a handle 15 which, when the valve stem is in a closed position,depends vertically.

A pendulum lever 16 has a flared end 17 and is pivotally jointed at 18to the lower end of a bar 19. When the valve stem 12 is in a position toclose the outlet valve passage 14 and the lever 16 is in its lowermostposition, as shown in Figs. 5 and-6, the axis of the pivoted joint 18 iscoincident with or in alinement with the axis of the valve stem 12.

The rear of the lever 16 has two lugs 20 Y which are spaced'apart withinthe height of the lever and have holes 21 which form slideways for thehandle 15. In other words, by the above mentioned'construction thehandle 15 is slidably connected to the lever 16 and a swinging movementof the lever 16,will impart a swinging movement to the handle 15 and aconsequent rotatable movement to the valve stem 12 so that when thelever 16 is moved in opposite directions the slot 13 will be moved intoregister with the valve outlet passage 14 to release the air pressure.

The front face of the valve casing 10 has two lugs 22 and 23 which arehereinafter termed re-setting lugs. These lugs form a path or contractedopening 24 in which are located the bar 19 and the'upper end portion ofthe lever 16.

The oppositely disposed surfaces 25 of the resetting lugs 23 'fiaredownwardly to permit the swinging of the lever 16 when the latter 'is ina lowered position; but when the its normal position cutting off theoutlet passage 14. This part of the operation will be further describedhereinafter.

The valve casing 10 has a slotted extension 26 which forms a guide forthe bar 19. However, the slot 27 of this extension will permi-t a slightlateral movement.

The upper end of the bar 19 ,is pivotally connected to abell-crank-lever 28, said bellcrank-lever being operatively connected bya link 29 to another bell-crank-lever 30, both of the bell-crank-levers28 and 30 being pivotally connected, as illustrated, to a portion of thelocomotive 7.

The bell-crankdever 30 is operatively connected to a pedal rod 31 theupper end of which is positioned within the engineers cab 32. This pedalrod extends through a housing 33 below thecab floor 34, and a spring 35in said housing operates to nor mally hold the pedal rod 31 in a raisedposition and thereby hold the lever 16 in a position adapted to engage astop 36 which can be secured to a tie of the roadbed in a mannerhereinafter described. This stop 36 is adapted to be engaged by the end17 of the lever 16 so as to cause said lever 16 to swing to effect theescape of the air pressure in the train pipe 8 and thereby stop thetrain.

The upper end of the pedal rod 31 has a notch 37 adapted to be engagedby a latch 38 when the pedal rod 31 is depressed. It will be noted thatby moving the pedal rod downwardly, the above described connectionbetween the bar 19 and the pedal rod 31 will cause said bar 19 to beraised and with it the pendulum 16.

The downward movement of the pedal rod 31 performs two functions. In thefirst place, it raises the pendulum lever 16 above the stop 36 or aboveany other obstruction in the roadbed; and in the second place, iteffects the closing of the valve to prevent the escape of air pressurefrom the train pipe 8.

The stop 36, as illustrated, is of a portable character and includes aplate 39 (see Figs. 1 to 4, inclusive). The plate 39 can be positionedon any of the ties and includes a forked end 40 which can embrace thebase 41 of one of the rails, as illustrated.

This plate 39 also includes a pointed tooth 42 adapted to pierce oneside of the tie 43. An arm 44 has a projection 44* adapted to slidablyfit within a recess 45 in the plate 39. The arm 44 also has a pointedtooth 46 oppositely disposed to the tooth 42 and adapted to pierce theopposite side surface of the tie 43.

A clamping rod 47 passes through a portion of the plate 39 and has ascrew threaded end 48 which engages a tapped opening 49 in the arm 44.Thus by turning the clamping rod 47 the teeth 42 and 46 pierce theopposite sides of the tie 43 and hold the plate to the tie.

A stopping device of this nature can be carried on the train and can beattached by the brakeman of a train so that instead of the usualflagging of an oncoming train this device will serve to positively stopan oncoming train automatically to prevent an end collision.

A cut out valve 51 is interposed in the branch pipe 9 so that if thevalve 11, or any of its connecting parts, should become injured the cutout valve 51 can be closed so as not to interfere with the ordinaryoperation of the brakes.

By making the lower end of the pendulum lever 16 flared, as abovedescribed, the lever naturally has a tendency to move into its normalposition, as shown in Figs. 5 and 6 of the drawing. In other words, thisflaring forms a weighted lower end for the lever 16 and this weightassists in returning the handle 15 of the valve stem to its normalposition to effect the closing of the valve outlet passage 14. t

The portable trip or stop device, which is illustrated and described butnot claimed per se in this application, forms the subjectmatter of myco-pending application for United States Patent filed December 10th,1918, Serial No. 266,022.

While I have described my invention as taking a particular form, it willbe understood that the various parts of my invention may be changedwithout departing from the spirit thereof, and hence I do not limitmyself to the precise construction set forth, but consider that I am atliberty to make such changes and alterations as fairly come within thescope of the appended claims. 1

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent is: V

1. Mechanism of the character described including a stop; a brakecontrolling valve; a member adapted to engage and to be relatively movedby said step to actuate the valve to operate the brakes; means formoving said member into an inoperationposition so as to be clear of saidstep; andineans in operative connection with said member and said valvewhereby when said member is moved into an inoperative position, saidvalve will be operative to effect the release of said brakes,substantially as described.

2. Mechanism of the character described including a stop; a valveoperative to effect operation of braking mechanism; a valve stem movableto open and close said valve; a swinging pendulum lever; 'means operatively connecting said pendulum leverwith said valve stem whereby whenthe pendulum lever is swung due to engagement with said stop, the valvestem will be rocked to render said valve operative to effect theoperation of the braking means; and means for moving said pendulum leverto a position clear of said stop, substantially as described. 3.Mechanism of the character described including a stop; a valve operativeto effect operation of braking mechanism; a valve stem movable to openand close said valve; a pendulum lever; means on said pendulum leverproviding slideways; a handle connecting said valve stem and slidablethrough said slideways whereby when the pendulum lever is swung due toengagement with said stop, the valve stem will be moved to render saidvalve operative to effect the operation of the braking means; means formoving said pendulum lever to a position clear of said stop; andre-setting means operative during said latter movement of the pendulumlever to cause said handle to move the valve stem into a position torelease said braking means, substantially as described.

4:. Mechanism of the character described including a stop; a valveoperative to effect operation of braking mechanism; a valve stem movableto open and close said valve; a pendulum lever; means on said pendulumlever providing slideways; a handle connecting said valve stem andslidable through said slideways whereby when the pendulum lever is swungdue to engagement with'said stop, the valve stem will be moved to rendersaid valve operative to effect the operation of the braking means; meansfor moving said pendulum lever to a position clear of said stop; andre-setting means operative during said latter movement of the pendulmnlever to cause said handle to move the valve stem into a position torelease said braking means, said re-setting means including lugs spacedapart and adapted to be engaged by said pendulum lever to cause thelatter to be returned to its normal position, substantially asdescribed.

5. Mechanism of the character described including a stop; a valveoperative to efiect operation of braking mechanism; a valve stem movableto open and close said valve; a pendulum lever; means on said pendulumlever providing slideways; a handle connecting said valve stem andslidable through said slideways whereby when the pendulum lever is swungdue to engagement with said stop, the valve stem will be moved to rendersaid valve operative to effect the operation of the braking means; meansfor moving said pendulum lever to a position clear of said stop;re-setting means operative during said latter movement of the pendulumlever to cause said handle to move the valve stem into a position torelease said braking means; and means for holding said pendulum levermoving means in said latter position to retain said pendulum lever in aposition clear of the stop, substantially as described.

6. Mechanism of the character described including a stop; a valveoperative to effect operation of braking mechanism; a valve stem movableto open and close said valve; a pendulum lever; means on said pendulumlever providing slideways; a handle connecting said valve stem andslidable through said slideways whereby when the pendulum lever is swungdue to engagement with said stop, the valve stem will be moved to rendersaid valve operative to eflect the operation of the braking means; meansfor moving said pendulum lever to a position clear of said stop; andmeans for holding said pendulum lever moving means in said latterposition to retain said pendulum lever in a position clear of the stop,substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in thepresence of two subscribing witnesses.

SIGFRE-D ANDERSON.

Witnesses:

CHARLES J. PARSON, OSCAR ANDERSON.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G.

